Happiness is incidental

Life lessons from a wrist injury

Now I am old enough to realize and admit that happiness—or rather contentedness—is not the default mental state in human beings. At best, it can come as a fleeting coincidence. So, sometimes when everything goes my way for many consecutive days, I feel alarmed and alert myself: look for the danger signs!

Two weeks ago, I was going through the exact same phase. The earnings from the previous months were better than expected. A friend and a family member had chimed in with a highly favorable credit line that helped me make some urgent payments. Suddenly I had a breathing space of few months.

My body was also doing well, I was playing dozens of matches of Table Tennis everyday. I was light like a bird. With the arrival of monsoon, the sky had cleared and I could breathe as easily as my grandfather did sixty years ago.

After publication of my first book in Nepali, I had toured to different cities in Nepal and visited some schools for conversation with students on the climate issue. I was also translating (into English) and elaborating a chapter from the book for the students. The first draft was within striking distance.

Then a mini-disaster struck. I fell off the ground while trying to turn and rush in a different direction. My palms bore the weight of my body for a split second. I hurriedly stood up, regained balance and kept rushing. My left hand recovered quickly but the pain in my right wrist not only persisted but it worsened and was accompanied by swelling.

Consultation to Orthopedic surgeon and a plaster slab in my right forehand and palm followed.

Most good things that I explained at the beginning evaporated in that split second: No more Table Tennis. No air-like lightness of body. No continuing with the book draft. No THG Recommendations!

In these two weeks I measured the ultimate sleeping capacity of a human being. I discovered that carefree daytime sleep begets more sleep. I also finished reading the magnificent biography of the Bombay city by Suketu Mehta: Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found and a couple of other books.

After 4 days of binge-sleeping and reading, though, I engaged in the editing work of a picture-book—not mine—that demanded minimal to no typing. Somehow, the procrastination around that work came to an end because of this forced leisure.

I am still recovering from the injury but a wrist brace is way more convenient than a slab and hope to function fully soon.

Moral of the story? Enjoy all there is in life before you too get a stupid wrist injury and have to binge-sleep the way I did.

Here is my parting recommendation, a witty and profoundly insightful short film, for this week. Please enjoy: